


Prompt #30

by GlitterBombLove



Series: Prompts - 30 Challenge [30]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Flash Fic, Prompt Fic, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25272085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterBombLove/pseuds/GlitterBombLove
Summary: Prompt #30 - Victory ToastJuly 14, 2020Genre: Fantasy / SuperHero genre / Young AdultPrompt: Character is afraid of hurting anyone.Source:  2019 Writing Prompts / NanoWrimo Forum Board
Series: Prompts - 30 Challenge [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1754020
Kudos: 1





	Prompt #30

"Is this goodbye?"

Jack blurted out the question and instantly regretted it. He vowed he was going to play it cool and show everyone he had grown strong and confident. He blew it. Now everyone knew he was a clingy baby. He refused to look at the others. He felt ashamed and stared down at his down at his plate and miserably spooned his mashed potatoes. Being cool was something very difficult of him.

"Do you want this to be goodbye?" Emeric was the first to speak.

Jack looked up and saw his friend, the boy magician and leader of their group, had leaned back in his seat and was studying him carefully. Jack saw the others had stopped eating and regarded him with questioning looks. Although he may taken longer to grow fond of some of them, he knew they were all his friends now and he would remember them forever. 

"Well?" 

Jack was tongue-tied. How could he express himself. He wanted to say he would never have made it through these last few weeks without them. He knew he surely would have perished. They had been through so much -- travelling from New York to the Midwest and finally to Las Vegas without money and a tiny speck of magic. They fought monsters sent by Blackstone, the evil magician, and managed to survive. And how they defeated Blackstone in the final showdown at his penthouse atop the casino, Jack still could not believe. 

After the battle, they limped through the crowd of gamblers, sightseers and party-goers who barely noticed four teens with sooty faces and singed clothing stumbling past the slot machines and card tables. Jack wasn't sure if it was a spell or just general disinterest, but no one paid attention to them. Even when they headed outside through the lobby with Jack patting down a few burning embers on his flannel shirt and Emeric's flat top hat leaving a trail of smoke behind him, no one seemed to notice them.

The four had hailed a taxi and asked the driver to drop them off at the cheapest eatery nearby. They found themselves at a 24 hour all-you-can eat buffet and for the first time their pockets were stuffed with cash, coins and casino chips. When Jack saw all the food - laid out in rows and rows before them - he almost cried. He had not realized how the weeks of hunger had taken a toll on him until he saw all the food.

He piled eggs, pancakes, toast, spaghetti, rice and Chinese sweet and sour pork until his plate grew into a heavy mess. He felt a little ashamed until he saw everyone's plate held mountains of food as well. NaomI was already chewing on a drumstick she clamped in her mouth as she shoveled more food on her plate. She saw him looking at her and gave him a wink. He ducked his head and grinned back.

They gorged themselves without talking. Jack knew this was the end. They would go their separate ways. They were safe. Even though no one had families, they knew at least everyone who had known them would not suffer under Blackstone's cruel hands. They could feast on their last meal together and feel no fear for the first time.

"Are you trying to get rid of us?" Ryler teased Jack. "You know -- you saved my life, so.....I guess I'm obligated to go with you. I mean until I can repay you."

"He saved your life," Naomi told Ryler. "But you saved my life. So I guess I owe you, and I'll follow you until I can be squared."

She held a huge wedge of chocolate cake in her hand and bit into it. Without anyone touching it, a solitary napkin wafted in the air and lingered suspended next to her face. She plucked it from the air and delicately dabbed her mouth. "Thank you very much, Emeric."

"You're welcome," Emeric said, sniffing and wiping his nose with the back of his hand. Emeric always bled a little when he did magic. Emeric leaned in and scratched his chin. "And if I recall both Naomi and Jack saved my life but then I saved everybody's life here, so the we've got quite a cobweb going here."

Ryler rolled his eyes and gave Jack a rare quick smile. Jack could feel ever since the penthouse, the animosity of their first meeting had been replaced with a begrudging friendship.

"I'll never forget you guys," Jack choked. "As long as I live."

Emeric shook his head. With flourish, Emeric thrust empty hand in the air. He waved another hand past it and now he held a crystal goblet. He raised the goblet up for a toast, wiping a small trickle of blood from his nose. Not only did he bleed, but his magic was usually a bit off. It was getting better. Jack recognized it as a prop from Blackstone's magic show. Everyone knew Emeric was showing off---but he earned the right. "All that counts is we're still here. We're safe and don't have to be afraid anymore. We've got each other."

Ryler followed suit with his drink. Swiping her mouth on the back of her hand, Naomi raised her glass of milk up. "Here here."

"And no one is going anywhere." His eyes fell on Jack. "Right?"

"I don't belong here," Jack said quietly. "You've got your ...whatever you call the thing you do warping space and making stuff appear out of thin-air. Everyone can do something magical - but not me."

"I'm still convinced you have powers," Emeric said.

"What? I'd like to know."

"You've brought us all together. You found us one by one. And you kept us together. You can look into our hearts and see who we are and what we could be and you are brutally honest. Those are all powers."

"Is nagging a power?" Ryler mumbled into his drink he lowered and now sipped.

Emeric shot Ryler a silencing look." You saw what he did to Blackstone. He made him see the monster he was even if was for a moment. He connected into his humanity. You made him doubt his monstrosity and you gave us a chance to bring him down."

"I never thought of it that way," Jack said.

Emeric smiled. "So there's your special super power. Along with your brutal honesty. So, we need you. What do you say? Are we together from here on out?"

Jack looked at all the shining faces at the table around him. They all looked so young and fresh and heartbreaking earnest. His heart swelled up with so many feelings. Safety. Love. A tribe. A family.

A part of him - the honest part of him - wanted to tell them he felt a premonition this moment might be fleeting--that nothing lasted forever. He wasn't sure if the feeling came from true premonition or just his pessimistic nature. He did not want to hurt them.

But he went against his nature. This was a special moment among special young hearts. 

Just as the others had done, Jack lifted his glass to the toast. This wasn't goodbye.


End file.
